The Benton Agency Inc

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has announced that $6.5 million will be returned to over 600 former members of the Phoenix Fund Inc. The Phoenix Fund was a self-insured workers compensation fun that ceased operations almost three years ago.

Businesses can choose to have their workers compensation insurance written by a fund. A fund is where a group of businesses pool their money together and pay any claims out of that pool. They may also choose to do business with an insurance carrier. A carrier is an insurance company that may or may not write other lines of business such as auto, property, general liability. Although carriers have their share of problems some people view them as a safer market than a fund. If a fund is well managed they can be very successful and can sometimes save businesses money.

Unfortunately the Phoenix Fund has given other fund in North Carolina a bad name. Phoenix failed for a couple of reasons. One they were writing any piece of business that they could without underwriting it. Any carrier or fund that tries to write everything will soon find itself in insolvency. The Phoenix Fund also committed fraud. There are however good funds out there. iSurity manages one of those funds called the North Carolina Mutual Employers Fund (NCME). They don't try to write everything. In fact they pre-inspect many companies before they offer a quote. This fund is well managed and the finances are solid. Next time you think about doing business with a fund, be open minded and remember that not all funds are bad funds.